


hands colder than death itself.

by patheticfallacies



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Dark Magic, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Ghosts need love too, It'll be explained, It's gonna be cute, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, Not Beta Read, Reader can see ben, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:54:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26413723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/patheticfallacies/pseuds/patheticfallacies
Summary: I wrote this a long while back as a short thing, and I didn’t think it’d go anywhere but it did and here we are. i always like embellishing things that we as the audience don’t know about in stories, and i mean...we really don’t know ANYTHING about ben and klaus and what they did post leaving the academy, pre-first apocalypse, and i wanted to pull from that. it’s a little bittersweet and it’s entirely romanticism to full extents. what can I say? i’m lonely.This will deal (in later parts, not here) with slight themes from season two, but not specific moments, simply because it's set before season two and I didn't write this at at time when season two was out. I imagine most have seen it by now, but if not, you won't have to worry about spoilers.There are four chapters; they'll come out soon, because they're all done and written. I'll actually complete this fic, I swear. :)
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	1. a job (not at all) well done.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a long while back as a short thing, and I didn’t think it’d go anywhere but it did and here we are. i always like embellishing things that we as the audience don’t know about in stories, and i mean...we really don’t know ANYTHING about ben and klaus and what they did post leaving the academy, pre-first apocalypse, and i wanted to pull from that. it’s a little bittersweet and it’s entirely romanticism to full extents. what can I say? i’m lonely.  
> This will deal (in later parts, not here) with slight themes from season two, but not specific moments, simply because it's set before season two and I didn't write this at at time when season two was out. I imagine most have seen it by now, but if not, you won't have to worry about spoilers.
> 
> There are four chapters; they'll come out soon, because they're all done and written. I'll actually complete this fic, I swear. :)

_**HE MET HER WHEN KLAUS WAS TWENTY-TWO**_.

He wasn’t sure how old he was.

Ben was not sure how time worked in the ghost world. If it worked at all. He aged like honey dripped - slowly, but it still happened despite _all_ odds. Somehow, he grew from a small, solemn fifteen-year-old to a gangly, gritty young adult, lost in time to all but one. His wounds hid behind a hoodie that somehow grew with him and he emotionally developed enough, but did that even mean anything when one was a ghost?

‘Life’ was boring and a forced chore on him. He followed Klaus around haplessly, forced to be alone and playing guardian angel to someone who could not get rid of him _(though he sometimes did try...Ben tried not to take it to heart)_. 

Ben was not sure why he had been stuck with being Klaus’ ghostly sidekick, but he wasn’t sure how he liked it. He loved Klaus, sure. He would push past anything he said or tried to do to him. Brotherly bonds didn’t just break because of a simple death and a tragic addiction spiral. _Right_?

But it was a miserable continuation, to follow around his broken brother who he really couldn’t help. He was stuck yelling from the outside, begging with tears rolling down his cheeks and anger burning holes in his throat as his brother took more and more and waited for death to take him away, too. He had to watch him stagger down sketchy alleyways during the day, and in the night sleep restlessly, haunted by less friendly faces then Ben’s.

It was a horrible non-existence. And he hated himself, for hating it.

_But this tale is not about the trials and tribulations of a misfit’s past. Rather, how said misfit’s life changed, when meeting a rather strange person._

_Happiness might have become a foreign concept to the two brothers, but it could still happen, and would. A gift from whatever deity reigned above, perhaps, or a stupid little coincidence of three individuals being in the same place, same time. Logistics did not matter. What did matter, was the stupid little breath of hope that breathed down Klaus’ (and Ben’s, too) lungs, and the fact that it might have just hit the stranger, too._

Ben never knew what day it was - he had no concept of time, in his twisted realm of NOT-reality, and Klaus never gave a shit about calendric systems. He _did_ know it was a weeknight, though, because few were out and the stores closed early. Klaus always lurked then. It was easiest for ‘business’. 

Though, the petty thieving and pisspoor manipulation tactics really didn’t deserve such a generous title.

Ben followed behind Klaus, because he had to, hands stuffed deep into his hoodie pockets. Klaus rambled far up ahead, something about how he wished Ben could hold things too, or...he couldn’t be bothered to listen. Did it matter? Did anyone care, anyways, what a pitiful little guardian ghost thought about? He _supposed_ that didn’t matter either, that one day he’d pass onto either heaven or hell and finally figure out his next life purpose. But it would be nice to be of some use, or-

“-hey, _listen_ to me!”

Ben blinked and looked Klaus’ way. _Stupid trains of thought_. How long had he been lost for? “What?”

“C’mon,” Klaus beckoned, forgetting all about what he was trying to say before. The man turned and raced back through the crowds, his willowy figure getting knocked all around without much care. Ruefully, Ben wished he could push the people away, or at least alert his reckless brother before he accidentally started another fight - but what good could he do? 

He just followed, because he had to.

“Where are we-”

“- _shh_ ,” Klaus warned loudly, as though anyone could hear his brother. He grinned and kept going, weaving through until the block finally gave in and they fell to the edge of a thin crowd. Ben floated close behind and when Klaus stopped suddenly, he went right through.

“W-” he stopped himself that time, staring forward at someone far away. 

They stood with their back turned, hood turned up and figure pressed downward, as though they were trying to look as small as possible. They stood inspecting the outside of a bookstore, inconspicuous and neat. They would have been invisible to a glance by, had they not been standing alone.

But Ben knew what this meant, and he knew what Klaus was looking for. He passed him a glare, “really?”

“Well I know how it looks but - but - _no, see_ ,” he spluttered, eager to spit out the words even faster than they came to him. “I know they don’t look like much, but I know the type. You didn’t see the wallet on them, Ben, they’re practically waiting for-”

“-but you don’t _have_ to do this, Klaus.”

“It’s fine!”

“This is _stealing_! It’s not _fine_!”

Klaus rolled his eyes and gestured to quiet down, as though it was necessary. His attention still remained on the figure. “Call it borrowing, dear Benny!”

“Right. Yeah. Like you’ll ever even see them again.”

“Fine, well - you know what? I don’t have to listen to you,” he rebutted, sticking out his tongue for good measure. “You’re not even here right now.”

“I’m still _here_ , asshole, I’m just-” 

-but it was no use. Klaus had stopped listening and begun his mission already. Ben was left watching haplessly, hoping that somehow, his brother got out of this scotch free (even if he didn’t deserve to).

See, money was hard to come by, especially for those with no real education, and with too many ghosts living rent-free in their head to survive with. People did what they had to to cope and Ben guessed he might not be great off if he had to deal with Klaus’ curse of powers...but it still pissed him off, to see him so hopelessly addicted to his substances with no one to stop him. He couldn’t hold a job, having no real experience and interest in sobering up, but the drug money had to come from somewhere.

It still did not mean the robberies sat well in Ben’s ghostly gut. 

Or any of it...but that emotional rollercoaster of a spiral would have to wait until Klaus was safe again.

He crept (unnecessarily, but oh well) up behind the covered figure, hovering and watching silently. Their face was yet to be exposed, but he could watch them ruffle through the book display with little interest. He took note of the delicate, but thick gloves that covered the steady hands and wondered to himself just _what sort of person wore leather gloves on a warm summer evening_?

But before he could question it further, or Klaus could move past his own post and swoop in, a very curious thing happened.

The person spoke.

To them.

“I suggest backing away, sir. I can’t promise you your next actions are going to reap any good...for either of you.”

Ben blanched. Immediately, he fled to Klaus’ side, who too looked bewildered. The person had not looked up, but it was clear that they could have only been speaking to him. And yet, too...they had said _‘either of you’_. That wasn’t just something one threw out without a reason to, right?

He could just be thinking far too much into an unpleasant situation, but it felt like more than a misunderstanding. There was no one near Klaus that they could have referred to, and they had not even looked up - so sure they could just be estimating, but they seemed too confident, for that. His mind wandered to a strange sense of hope and foolishly, Ben clutched to it even in the face of imminent danger.

Shakily, his brother laughed, then spoke himself. “S-sorry, are you talking to _me_? I’m a little confused here.” His bony fingers flew through the air, painting wild lies that the person didn’t turn around to see. “Whatever-whatever seems to be the issue…?”

Their hand slid down the spine of a slim novel. “You’re quite loud, you know. Shouldn’t discuss your _plans_ like that. You’ll get yourself killed.”

“Well, I-” Klaus was clearly stuck at a loss for words. Frankly, Ben didn’t know what to think either. It was possible that she heard Klaus’ mumblings over the crowd, but only barely. And had they not been at least _somewhat_ sneaky?

If ghosts could get proper headaches, he was certain he would have a pounding one then.

As though the person could read his mind, a chuckle rolled out. Low, melodious - _not what was expected_ , Ben thought to himself. “You did your best, I’m sure. But your shadow was quite noisy.”

“I _told_ you!” Klaus crowed, turning to Ben with a resounding ‘ _ha_!’. He froze in the very action, however, realising as he did so the oddity in her statement. Immediately, he rolled back forward.

“How did you - shadow, friend? I-what-well, I assure you, I’m quite alone.”

Ben facepalmed.

The figure laughed again. “You’re a shitty liar, sir. As well as a thief?” They clicked their tongue. “Quite an embarrassing affair.”

“I...this is...I’m sure, there’s some misunderstanding here. We can sort this out civilly, ri..ight?”

They chuckled again.

“Ask - ask her how she can see me,” Ben hissed, jabbing at Klaus’ side. He frowned as his elbow went straight through, but at least his brother got the hint.

He never had the chance to ask, however. Just as his mouth opened and the question began to pour out, the figure turned around.

“Why can’t you just ask her yourself?”

She didn’t remove her hood, or reveal her face much by any means, but Ben did gape at her, unsure what to do or say next. He simply stared openly, taking in what little he could. Lips stretched up into a bitter smile, shadows cascading from her hood to hang down over her face, though he was pretty sure she was a woman roughly about Klaus’ age. 

The woman’s hands fell to her hips, novel clasped in one. She tapped a booted foot dramatically.

Klaus gulped. Ben tried to let go of his giddiness of being seen.

_(He failed.)_

“If I knew I would find myself this Tuesday night with Klaus Hargreeves, and his phantom, trying to rob me...well, I suppose I just would not be here right now.”

In the back of his shocked mind, Ben Hargreeves noted that he finally knew it was a Tuesday.


	2. death has a name...according to death, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is like, exposition at its worst and best. i don't know how i feel about this; but please note, it's supposed to be messy, because a) the character doesn't know all the facts herself, only what she's experienced, and b) it's being told only from her perspective. so it's supposed to weird and confusing (but bear with me, it'll be a bit better in the next chapters). xx

**_LONG STORY SHORT, KLAUS AND BEN HARGREEVES GOT A FREE HOUSE._ **

Long story a little longer, they got a housemate too. Who sort of owned the house, but had graciously invited them. After, of course hearing their story, recounting her own and coming to a very strange and generous decision.

Long story long, Ben Hargreeves had fallen head over heels for her the second she had told him it was Tuesday.

Klaus told him later that he thought for sure he was dead the second she spoke. But he had been grinning when he said it and Ben never thought for a second she would have  _ really  _ hurt them, so...he really didn’t believe him. But he had worried for both Klaus, and for once, himself. Wouldn’t anyone, threatened by a mysterious figure in a black hoodie, who claimed to see him and have the power of wiping them off the face of the earth?

But, things did not go in the way Klaus or Ben had expected. At all.

  
  


_ THE NIGHT THEY MET... _

“How can you…” Ben trailed off, unsure how to quite phrase his question.

Fortunately for him, the strange woman did not have the same hesitations. “See you? Yes, I suppose that’s quite shocking...but right now,  _ I’d  _ like to know what you wanted. Er,  _ want _ ...are you looking for just money, or are you trying to hurt me?”

“W-w-hurt you? No, no we’d never - we didn’t want to  _ hurt  _ you!”

Her lips stretched upwards then into a more genuine smile. “That’s some relief. This wouldn’t be so fun if you did.” She sighed. “I  _ hate  _ a kidnapping scheme where I get hurt.”

“Kidnapping!?”

One shoulder shrugged. “Isn’t that a pretty explanatory term?”

“Well, sure, but  _ kidnapping _ ?! I mean,” Klaus laughed, high and shrill. Nervous. “I, I can barely carry myself through life, I don’t think I could take  _ both  _ of us! And  _ he’s  _ no use,” he jabbed towards Ben, “he can’t even touch  _ me _ , so I-I don’t think we’re carrying off any kidnapping schemes.”

She chuckled lightly. “So it’s just money, then? You and your friend?” Her head turned to look Ben’s way. “Apologies, I don’t recognise you…?”

“Ben,” he muttered. He repeated it again, a little more confident. It felt so strange to speak and for her to hear...but god, he loved that someone could.

He really had to stop the giddiness over that, but...

“Ben. Sorry, I didn’t recognise you.” She sounded surprised for the first time that night. “You’ve...aged.”

Ben’s cheeks flushed.

“I’m so sorry,” Klaus cried, interrupting the mysterious woman, “I don’t mean to step on any toes but what is going on? I mean, you - you can see him!? And you know who we - I - we are?”

“Hm. Yes, I can see where that’s a little unsettling.”

“A little!? A little - can you believe this woman? Who does she think she is?!” Klaus scoffed to his right, ignoring Ben’s attempts at silencing him. Gone was what little reason the man possessed, along with remembering what he had just been about to do to her. He could only focus on the oddity of the woman herself, and truthfully Ben didn’t blame him much there.

He only wished he did not pick a fight so  _ carelessly  _ with her.

However, both were surprised by her reaction. She cocked her head, the hood moving to hide her face as she watched the two of them. When Klaus finally looked back her way, her lips had fallen down to a stern frown, an almost unsettling look from the otherwise covered face.

“Are you two here with anyone?”

“I-well-I-” Klaus looked to Ben, who looked to him, both with matching looks of confusion and worry. What to say, to her, a mysterious entity refusing to answer any questions, save with vague, unsatisfying answers? Ben wasn’t even sure if he was  _ supposed  _ to talk in this situation, or if he should play the silent sidekick part he was so goddamn used to rolling with.

That ghost non-headache really was starting to be a bitch.

“I’ll take that as a no,” she finally said, glancing between the two silent men. “So you’re only here for money. And alone. Strange, but I suppose that’s to be expected with  _ his _ .”

“Well - hey-hey hold on a second, where are you going now!?”

The woman had pushed past Klaus and started to walk off, abandoning her novel on the book cart. She did not turn or stop at his protests, but did slow, as if waiting for them to catch up. “Walking. Why, do you get around differently?”

“Okay, you’re - she’s twisting my words all around,” Klaus whispered loudly to Ben, failing horribly at hiding his frustrations. He turned back to the woman and started to walk faster. “Can we just  _ talk  _ about this?”

“About what, you trying to rob me? Depends on your weapon, I suppose.”

“Weapon?! What weapon?”

She looked over her shoulder then, lips twitching in amusement. “How else are you planning to threaten it out of me? I’m quite certain I’d be able to outrun you, so a chase is out of the question.”

“No, stop - stop playing mind games with me, DAMMIT! I just want to TALK!”

Ben wanted to help, he really did, but he found himself only floating along and watching the argument escalate. Sure he could talk, considering somehow they both heard him, but what to say? And why? He didn’t know her and what she could do. She seemed to have some edge over him and Klaus, and frankly neither of them were in any condition to fight. He could try to reason with his brother, but it didn’t seem to be at a level where he needed to pry him away from certain death yet.

And also, he just didn’t know how to talk to anyone, anymore. Lamely, stupidly, irrevocably he was an  _ anxious  _ ghost. Biting fingernails to the quick, anxious. She unsettled him in the worst and best way and he just-

“-how can you see him too!?”

Ah, well, that was his cue to pay attention again. They had all stopped then, the woman turning back and seemingly staring Klaus down. Ben simply hovered, silent.

“I need to know,” he begged, and the weeping emotion in his voice almost seemed genuine. “I gotta know, you  _ know _ ?!”

They stood still for a long moment. Klaus waiting, her considering and Ben lost in a chasm of hope and despair, melting together to form one big pool of misery in his mind. It felt like forever, before she replied, though it was probably only mere seconds.

“I won’t talk about it here.”

“Wha-oh. O..kay?”

She sighed. “Follow me. And quietly this time. I mean-” her head darted around, taking in the few passerbys. They were lucky for the time and place, but Ben knew that a witness to an oddity was still  _ a witness _ . “-silent, or I’ll make you regret it.”

And so, they did.

She led them through town without another word, walking down lesser-taken roads and darting across streets to the shadows once more, clinging to them like a baby does its mother's hand. Ben took note of the delicate pacing; whoever she was, she was used to being invisible. Klaus could only do his best to keep up.

At last they were led to a small house, standing alone. It sat on the outskirts of town, just far enough away to have the quiet but nothing too strange about its position. The woman said not a word as she walked up the steps and pulled a key from within her jacket. A few seconds of fumbling -  _ she was nervous _ , Ben realised, t _ hough she had refused to let on  _ \- and she was ushering the both of them in.

Strange, how she left the door long enough for him to come in, too.

“Sorry about the walk,” she finally said, gesturing for them to remove their shoes and belongings. She toed off her own boots to reveal bright purple ankle socks.

Ben smiled to himself a little at the sight.

“I’m afraid that our chat could have left many curious, and I would have hated to fight over two I hardly know.” Still wearing the heavy hoodie, she shrugged. “Hazard of living, you know?”

“Sure,” was Klaus’ hapless answer.

She smiled. “But you can talk freely here. Though, not too loud, you’ll wake Yvonne.”

“You-”

“-not a person,” she interrupted, cutting off the confusion with a wave of her hand. “Cat. But she’s crabby if she doesn’t get her eighteen hours. Relatable, right?”

They both chose not to answer that.

“Take a seat. Do you drink tea?”

Klaus shrugged and muttered non-committedly. Ben said nothing, because of course.

She began to prepare for tea.

“Must you wear your hood? I mean,” Klaus asked, “isn’t your house a safe place of solace and comfort or...whatnot?”

The woman did not stop, but she did hesitate, the teapot slightly trembling in her lithe fingers. “A home is only safe when you know what’s inside.”

“Oh...mm…”

“I can’t be quite sure of you two, you know. I mean,” she turned away from them then, “I know who you  _ are _ , but the last time I saw the two of you was quite different.”

“We know each other?”

Ben had not meant to speak then; it just came out, thrown in shock at her back without hesitation.

She whirled around. “So you do speak.”

“I-yeah-yes.”

“Hm.” She resumed her work. “Good. I didn’t want to push you into a realm of speechlessness. Those are hardly fun.”

Ben did not know what that meant. And he was not sure he wanted to, really. But like Klaus, he was beyond curious and worried about the entire ordeal, and finally speaking seemed to break the silent curse he had laid upon himself. He wanted to know more. 

Had to, so to speak.

“You can see me? And hear me?”

She hummed. “Correct.”

“As a-a being? Or-”

“-I know you’re dead, Ben. I’m not delusional. Plus,” she turned once more, shuffling to her small collection of patterned mugs. They were bright, Ben noticed, and all unique. “Most living beings don’t glowy and yknow, wiggle in their form.”

Klaus scoffed. “Wiggle?  _ Wiggle  _ \- Ben, are you shimmying behind me as I walk, or--?”

“--his form shifts slightly with  _ you _ , is all I mean.” A mug was placed before Klaus, along with three small white pots. “For your tea.”

“I don’t  _ wiggle _ ,” Ben grumbled, mostly to himself.

The woman moved away with her own mug and sipped at it carefully. Her hands covered up half the font and image, leaving only half a fox head and ‘ _ don’t disturb me, I’m reading _ ’ visible. She did not look back up.

It was a very strange image of a very strange woman, who had so far been only strange. If Ben had expected anything from her, it had not been cozy fox mugs and heading into her weirdly large home, or the way she spoke like a bad thriller novel and wore a hoodie indoors to cover her face. And the oddest part? She acted like all of this was completely normal.

And maybe it was, to her.

“You are one of very few ghosts I have seen in my life, Ben Hargreeves. And especially in so strong a form - you’re tethered to this life.  _ His  _ life, or this world, or -- well, I’m pulling answers out of my ass. I don’t know where or how, but you are only a few inches away from being still living. It paints a very odd picture.”

Klaus and Ben shared a look. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” she said slowly, pausing to take a cautious sip, “that you too are lucky to have one another. And connected. I - I’m not an expert in this stuff, I only know what I get.”

That seemed to frustrate Klaus. “There you are with another vague answer - have you ever been honest about anything in your life, missy? Or is this a game, a sick little world you’re building around us? Because frankly, I don’t want to play it. And neither does Ben, though he can tell you that himself!”

Her head turned to face Ben, who frowned semi-apologetically. “I... _ we _ both are just confused.”

She seemed to watch him closely for a long moment, leaving him shifting and shuffling in his place, before setting down her mug. She pushed up her sleeves past her wrists, just up to where the gloves ended. Finally, the woman turned and grabbed hold of a tiny pot holding an even smaller green plant within.

“Fine. If answers are what you want, then you must promise me your life.”

“What!?”

“ _ What _ !?”

“Oh, shit-” she cursed, smiling almost apologetically. “Phrased that wrong. Not your literal life. Just...dammit, I don’t know. Share any of this to anyone and I will kill you horribly. That work?”

“No!”

“Okay,” Ben promised, shooting what he hoped was a ‘ _ she seems trustworthy enough for us to get her story’ _ look to a rather indignant Klaus. He tried to smile at the woman; he was pretty sure he did not pull it off. “We won’t tell a soul.”

She nodded and set the plant down on her tiny kitchen counter. She shooed Klaus away just enough, telling them both that ‘there needed to be distance between the living, just in case’.

Not a totally promising phrase, but what did Ben have to lose?

( _ which FYI was the worst mindset to have, and he KNEW it. but he couldn’t help it. she was weird and mysterious and frustrating and enthralling and he felt a draw to her that he had not felt since the day he reappeared as Klaus’ mock-conscience. and dammit...he wanted her to be good, so badly, he’d stupidly place his own brother’s life in the mix of it… _

_...which was stupid, if he had not made clear before... _ .)

Slowly, the woman removed her left glove, revealing seemingly normal skin underneath. Ben was just about to ask why she even had to cover her hands up when she held up a finger to her lips, asking for silence.

Begrudgingly, they both complied.

The woman then let her hand drop to the tiny houseplant and with what could have been a quiet sob, pressed her fingers to its green leaves. She left them there a few moments, holding tight, before lifting and leaving absolutely…

“Where did you put it?” Klaus asked, eyes wide and mouth fallen open. “Are you going to pull it out from behind my ear, or within the ghost realm, or-”

“-it’s gone,” she murmured. Her fingers lifted and along with them came a stream of grey dust. What could have been dirt but what Ben knew to be ashes. As though the plant had been burnt to a crisp in mere seconds, without a flame in sight. “It’s dead.”

“Ho-ooooly  _ shit _ . Hoooly - okay, okay. Sure.”

Ben couldn’t even acknowledge his brother’s panic - he couldn’t stop staring at her hand, at the dust once green and growing. And then to her, the hooded face he did not know, unsure what to think or say or do or feel or why he just wanted to know every single stupid little detail about her like those elementary crushes he never got to have.

He said none of this. He hated how he felt it, too. The gravity of the situation and her ability and her brother’s life didn’t seem to suit his enthrallment...even if he wanted to ask a thousand things of her.

“You just...you can just kill that, then?”

The ashes fell from her fingers, littering the countertop and her abandoned left glove. She brandished the fingers Klaus’ way. “You know how I knew I could trust you?”

A beat of silence, then,

“I couldn’t. But I could trust that you’d never live to tell another soul about it.” Her fingers clenched into a fist. Her knuckles paled. “Your life would be ashes in between my fingers, just like that. Gone, with nothing left but your ghost...if you’re so damned.”

“Wait, don’t-”

She whirled around, hand still clenched but ready to strike. “I have no intention of hurting your brother. Or you. Don’t be hasty.”

“You just threatened his  _ life _ !”

“ _ No _ .” Her hand fell, fingers scrambling to locate its casing, slipping the black fabric up its body once more. Her voice trembled with nervous emotion - but not anger. Something deeper within he could not read. “No, I told him what I could do with it, not what I want or ever  _ want  _ to do with it.”

“But-”

“-let me now be clear, crystal for both of yours sakes.” her voice dripped with a power not yet heard by either of them, and it worried Ben. So far she had been careful but did not seem to  _ care _ ...even amused by their attempts to rattle her. But she had just proven that she could quite literally  _ suck  _ the life out of his brother before his very eyes. She was a terrifying source of great power, what could even be a great evil power.

He should be scared of her.

He wanted to be!  _ Needed  _ to, for both of their sake, and yet as she stood in front of him, he felt nothing but curiosity for who she was. Almost a need, to discover her secrets, peel back her layers so they might stand as equals, bare of any hidden truths that could separate them. He wanted to know who she was and let her see him, too.

Dammit, if this wasn’t some psyche thing about craving human interaction.

“I am like you  _ both _ . I’m not, obviously, but-” her gloved hand gesticulated wildly. It seemed, the more emotion added, the more intense her movements became. Less controlled. “-you know. Call me a goddamn Grim Reaper, a demon, _ il diavolo _ \- it is what it is. And I’m foolishly confessing this to you because I know who you are, and you know who I am too. And I recognise myself in your eyes, Klaus Hargreeves. The old me.”

She stepped towards Klaus, then, hands falling to her sides. “You followed me because you love your brother. And you want to know how someone else can see someone you believe was lost years ago. Yes?”

He nodded numbly.

“It’s a curse, isn’t it? To walk amongst the dead, lost in its tragedy every moment of the day? I wonder, how much of what you have coursing through your body is a remedy against every single unliving particle released into this atmosphere?”

“I-”

“-we both, we all-” she gestured back to where Ben stood, frozen in shock, “-are cursed by the same being who brought us unto this earth. He designed us all for a purpose, I don’t know what but he failed and he released an unmounted number of curses into the world, all different and waiting to be released as demons against the innocents. Call it a fuckin’ prophecy. 

“But you and me, we - we’re the two sides of the same coin. You just got the slightly better side of it.”

“There’s-” he choked on the words, “-there’s a better _side_ to this hell? I mean, what--?”

“I know, I know I’m rambling and I sound insane because it all is, and I don’t know how to say this all without forcing it on you both. I’m sorry, I truly am. I don’t want to create hatred or fear, I just--oh,  _ shit _ .”

The two men tensed _(if it were even possible to become more so_ ) and looked around even as she did.

“What is it?”

The woman sighed deeply, though that time out of what could possibly be...exasperation? 

“That’s no good.”

“What!?”

She fixed her gaze to Ben, a wry smile licking up her lips. Absent-mindedly, he took note of the blood bubbling on her bottom lip - chapped skin finally cracking during her passionate speech.

“I woke Yvonne up.”

  
  



End file.
